The Dilemma and Reflection of Tacit Consent Theory in Justifying Political Obligation

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-551-5_101How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Political Obligation; Tacit Consent; State Legitimacy; Consent Theory; Democratic Theory

Abstract

This research critically examines the theoretical viability of tacit consent as a foundation for political obligations in democracies. While express consent theories like Locke’s face practical limitations, tacit consent remains significant. Through analyzing consent theory’s evolution and contemporary critiques, this study demonstrates that tacit consent ultimately fails to establish robust political legitimacy due to three irreconcilable flaws: voluntariness deficits in residency-based models, specificity gaps in behavioral indicators, and democratic representational tensions. The argument proceeds by deconstructing Locke’s foundational framework, evaluating alternative tacit consent formulations, and proposing that consent-based legitimacy requires radical reconceptualization beyond traditional paradigms.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Chaonan Wang
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/03/26
TI  - The Dilemma and Reflection of Tacit Consent Theory in Justifying Political Obligation
BT  - Proceeding of 2025 8th International Conference on Humanities Education and Social Sciences (ICHESS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 946
EP  - 951
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-551-5_101
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-551-5_101
ID  - Wang2026
ER  -